Blackduck59

@GUT2407Hopefully it will be easy to retrofit a ramp in your house. If I remember correctly you recently bought a new Highlander, I hope that it has turned out to be easy to get in and of. It must be difficult surrendering to health issues that steal your independence. If that requires a new lightweight easy stow wheelchair then get the best you can for yourself.

Happy to hear you left the house in something other than an ambulance. I'm sorry to hear that the spine specialist wasn't very encouraging. On the plus side you did get Harry's while you were out.

When tasked with the decision of the main ingredients for my hot toddy I was faced with the dilemma of Ron Zacapa Rum (Nectar of the Gods) or Crown Royal (blended for King George on his visit to Canada in 1939). I decided that it would be a whiskey toddy rather than hot buttered rum. It is doing a wonderful job of soothing my throat.

Yes the so called woodworkers giving out advice on how to do something, all the while wasting many dollars worth of innocent wood. It's literally painful to watch and often dangerous.

I've been kill time watching an Australian machinist Curtis from Cutting Edge Engineering on You Tube. It is fascinating to watch as he repairs and creates parts for large machines. I understand the principles but have no knowledge of how to do any of it. I have tried watching some of the woodworking ones but often cringe at what I see. There is a Luthier I watch doing guitar repairs he does really good work.

Well we had an offer on our house, it was not really acceptable so we did a counter proposal. They made another offer and we accepted it. As it stands the sale is under contract but it is subject to development approval. That will take some months so we will be here until mid June at which time the deal fall through if they don't get the zoning.

I am recovering, I still have a cough and fatigue. I was hoping to go back to work tomorrow but I don't think that will happen, maybe by Thursday. For now I continue to rest up and drink lots of fluids. I have stopped taking the cold meds which did keep the symptoms in check. Now I think perhaps a hot buttered rum is in order.

@GUT2407, I really do hope that you are able to find relief soon. I can't even begin to imagine the frustration you feel with ongoing pain and no relief in sight. Take care and I hope things improve soon. In the meantime you do have the marvelous Max to brighten your days.

I'm feeling okay. It is like a really crappy cold. Earlier on I had some heavy coughing fits that were quite painful. I haven't had those for a while. It feels like a more mild cold now. It is our "Thanksgiving" weekend so Monday is a day off with pay. With any luck and a good test result I'll be back at work Tuesday. Apparently there is an "offer" on our house, we are scheduled to look at it tomorrow at 10 AM. It could be interesting...or not.

I think there must be excursions from Vancouver to Butchart Gardens. BC Ferries offers ferry and stay packages which may work for you. There is way more to Victoria than Butchart Gardens so if you can spare an overnight you should. There are frequent flights daily both from airport to airport or harbour to harbour as well as helicopter flights. I guess if Butchart Gardens is the goal and your time is of the essence you could fly Vancouver to Victoria, rent a care, drive to Butchart Gardens (it's closer to the airport than downtown) spend a few hours there, drive back to the airport and fly back to Vancouver. You will see the garden but little else. If you intend to hire a car on arrival at YVR then I might suggest you drive from the Airport to Tsawwassen Ferry terminal. It is a nice 1 hr 35 minute passage to Swartz Bay. You could either proceed in to Victoria or go directly Butchart Gardens (it's on the way). Give yourself at least 4 hours at the garden. Stay on the island overnight, explore Victoria for a bit and return via ferry to Vancouver.

That is over the top. We can get it fresh never frozen "in season" for about $60.00 Canadian here. Frozen is even less. Of course we can get dungeness crab live at several locations. I can understand skipping the crab at $75.00 per pound.

Hey Clay did you ever get that King Crab? You had lots of pictures of Tracy's in Juneau but never mentioned eating there or if you liked it. We had King crab at Annabelle's in Ketchikan, we enjoyed it but ironically we can get King Crab here fresh in season and frozen year round. It's expensive but I think no more than in Alaska.

We have a few places we would like to go. "Stans" are not on my list either. Hopefully we can travel more after I retire, Lynn is retiring at the end of the month. I have 2 years to go. We have a cruise next summer on the East coast, then we hope to get to OZ. I think a northern Europe cruise with some extra time in Finland (Lynn has a cousin there). I know Lynn wants to go back to the UK, she spent extended periods there when she was younger. I would like to see more of Europe as well. Of course much of these plans require a good price gotten for our house and being able to put some money away from that sale.

Sometimes things just show up on you tube and one video shoed them preparing shawarma in Uzbekistan. It was fascinating, almost enough for me to want to go there. Then I thought better of it. I am definitely a timid traveler, I tend to stay away from places that will erupt in violence at a moments notice.

Indeed, they deprive themselves of many wonderful things. They do however make up for it with things like shawarma, lamb and goat. I'm glad you made it home safely. I hope you have healed from your bicycle crash, and now you can get some foiling in before your next adventure.

Unfortunately the test was a little ambiguous. I will do another one in the morning. At any rate I will not be working tomorrow.

It feels like a nasty cold. It does hurt to cough and breathing isn't great. I'm going to sleep in my recliner tonight with my CPap on.

Well crikey, it looks like I have covid. So much for plans for Lynn's special birthday 😟. I will test again in the morning but I have too many symptoms. I'll definitely be off tomorrow and probably the next day. So much for my booster shot on Tuesday and dental appointment on Wednesday. Oh well I'm fortunate that there are sick days available now, I will probably have to use 2 of the five days I get per year and take the financial hit for the other days.

He's a good Canadian lad.

No it's the real email, just put it in email format.

Outstanding. My lovely wife is having a milestone birthday on Monday, unfortunately they wouldn't give her the day off so the options are limited. There will be a nice dinner though probably at the same restaurant we celebrated our 20th anniversary last year. I'm glad you had a good day. Cheers, Lyle

I have no idea how I missed this. I hope you made up for the 34 years she has endured with you by indulging her whims, springing for a spa day and taking her for a wonderful dinner paired with a marvelous wine. A belated Happy Anniversary to you both. Cheers, Lyle & Lynn

Enjoy sail away Clay, the Lions Gate is a lovely bridge to transit under. As you leave Canada Place and move farther out into Burrard inlet, Stanley Park will be on the Port side. You may be able to see a ship under construction on the Starboard side, that will be one of the new fleet support ships for the RCN. Are you in Victoria at any point in this adventure?

No worries, it's there if you want to use it. The fish & chip shop is at 738 Goldstream Avenue, Langford BC. If you get that close you better let me know 😁

That looks typical for Vancouver Clay. It is a big bottle neck at border control. How many ships were boarding today? We had 5 when we did our cruise. It should be all good once you get past that line. I'm sure there will be some suitable libation available once you are on board to help you recover from the trauma 😉